The Americano Family Ruckus Comes to Pleasanton!

The Americanos bring the Family Ruckus to Pleasanton!

Whatcha doing tomorrow night?

Sat, Jan 13th at 8pm, the Americanos bring our famous Ruckus to the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton!

I hear they have a brand new dance floor so don’t forget your dancing shoes!

Click here for tickets and please tell everyone you know!!

We will be pulling out all the stops, so don’t miss this event.

See you in Pleasanton!

The Ruckus is Back in SF!!

Let me just….jog your memory for a minute….

This was a big thing. For a number of years….

It was full of the most expressive elements of our wild nature

It was glorious…

AND IT’S BACK, Y’ALL!

We, along with much of our musical and live-music-enthusiast community, were reeling after the unexpected and confusing closure of our beloved Club Deluxe on Haight and Ashbury. It was a musical haven and de facto community center for wayward, local, live music professionals who didn’t have the type of following to fill the Independent or the Fillmore on a regular basis, but had a cult/local pull all their own.

There was the pandemic for sure. But that wasn’t the nail in the coffin. That wasn’t even the felled tree that built the thing. It was greed. The same greed that plagues this city to this day.

But we won’t unpack that here.

I want to talk about the possibility of the Ruckus having a new home in San Francisco. It was not an easy feat to find a place with the same vibe as Deluxe. It was so unique and of another time. And above all, it VALUED its local musicians.

BUT, we may have found something comparable. Something in a neighborhood that, during the pandemic, found a way to keep the community engaged and flourishing despite the constrictions of masks and distance. It did so with compassion, relative safety (individual autonomy notwithstanding), and hope.

On November 3rd, the Ruckus will return in full force at Savoy Tivoli in North Beach from 8:30pm-11:30pm.

Joining us as our first guest dancer in the new space is none other than the fabulous Zoe Jakes of Beats Antique.

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to be there as the Ruckus revives itself. You don’t want to miss Zoe, the band, the dancing, the vibes….

Mark your calendars and help us ring in a new era of the Ruckus.

Savoy Tivol, November 3rd, 8:30pm-11:30pm

See you there!

<3 EmZis

New Mythologies to Stream on Bay Beats!!

Exciting News!! New Mythologies has been accepted for streaming at the San Francisco Public Library’s new program: BayBeats!

San Francisco Public Library has the beat of the Bay…Bay Beats! The Library’s new free music streaming platform, featuring more than 100 Bay Area musicians and bands, goes live on October 28. After receiving a hugely enthusiastic response to the submission round, SFPL jurors selected over 100 bands to showcase. Discover your favorite new music in rock, folk, rap, pop, jazz and other genres. To celebrate the launch, SFPL is hosting a party on Oct. 28 featuring performances by 6 of the musicians featured on Bay Beats! All are invited to join in on the celebrations. Visit baybeats.sfpl.org to learn more!

Also!

Get ready to groove at the #BayBeats Launch Party! Join @SFPublicLibrary at Fulton Plaza outside the Main Library on 10/28 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to celebrate! Enjoy live performances by 6 of the incredible musicians featured on our new free streaming platform! baybeats.sfpl.org

Thanks for all of your support!

<3 EmZis

HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS with Raining Chainsaws!

I am SO excited to be joining the artist collective Raining Chainsaws as their musical director for Rare Birds appearing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this year.

Raining Chainsaws has been making community and collaborative performance/experiential art in San Francisco for over a decade.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a San Francisco institution and, thanks to the Hellman family, the tradition carries on with free shows by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Kurt Vile, Valerie June, Rufus Wainwright, The Lone Bellow, Irma Thomas… you get the gist. It’s a pretty big deal.

This year, Raining Chainsaws has been invited to be a part of a new stage at Hardly Strictly and they are FLYING with the idea. I highly encourage you to plan a morning with us in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, October 1st.

I recommend grabbing a comfy spot on the lawn around 11:30am for the 11:40am performance.

If you feel the nudge to donne some feathers or a beak, you would be among friends.

Check out the Raining Chainsaws website to see what you might be in for!

MAKE PLANS FOR SAN JOSE!

YOU HEARD IT HERE, FOLKS!!!

Come join the Americanos and together we will make our signature epic Ruckus at San Jose’s Tabard Theater on Friday Aug 4th with Music, Dance, Friends, Drinks, a Dance Party, Laughs, and tons of Crazy Fun!

We have a great show planned for you with lots of your favorite Americano songs to sing along with and dance to. We will have special guest bellydancer, the dynamic Ms Gina Bruno and guest bassist and jazz great Essiet Essiet!

This all ages show is from 8pm to 10pm and tickets are $10. You can purchase tickets at the door or in advance here!

Tell your friends, bring your dancing shoes, and join us Friday August 4th for an off the hook good time in San Jose and we will See You There!!!

Saturday Show with Press Record Songwriting Society!

The Press Record Songwriting Society (PRSS) is a revolving group of talented Bay Area songwriters, co-founded by Alexis Harte and Tamsen Fynn, who meet semi-monthly to critique and evaluate each other’s works in progress. The overarching goal of the group is to encourage its members — through an insightful, honest, constructive critique process — to develop and complete songs, and “press record.”  

6 of the PRSS members will be showcasing some of the songs we have been workshopping in an “In -the-round” showcase.

Our show is on Saturday, July 29th. The Strings address is 6320 San Pablo Ave. (near Alcatraz Ave.) in Oakland. 

Doors open at 7:30 and the show starts at 8.  There is a $20 donation at the door.  *** Strings is an all-cash venue.

Our featured song that went through the PRSS process was Alexis Harte’s Thirsty, the video for which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2021 and won awards at festivals around the world.

Also, Steve Gallup just wrote and released a video with his son, so kind of a cool family project that came out well.  https://youtu.be/5xI4UuG_Z00

Alexis Harte  http://www.alexisharte.com/

Alexis Harte, co-founder of PRSS, is an Annie and Peabody Awards-winning singer-songwriter and composer, and a veteran of the Strings stage.

Tamsen Fynn https://www.tamsenfynn.com/

Tamsen Fynn, co-founder of PRSS, has been a local singer/songwriter and educator for more than 20 years, and has taught for The Freight & Salvage for the past 10 years.

Steve Gallup  https://youtu.be/5xI4UuG_Z00

Steve Gallup, Bay Area Curator for the international Acoustic Guitar Project, and guitarist and songwriter, wrote a song every week in 2022 to see what would come of it.

Edie Ohara  https://edieohara.bandcamp.com/

Edie O’Hara writes songs that go straight to the heart, revealing the depth of her spirit and our shared human condition; she’ll always surprise you with an unexpected twist.

Emily Zisman  http://www.emilyzisman.com/

Lyrical philosopher and storyteller, San Francisco songwriter Emily uses unabashed honesty and humor to punctuate the complexity of the entire escapade.

Erik Yates  https://www.erikyates.net/

Erik Yates, a 20-veteran of the Bay Area acoustic scene, performs roots music and original songs with the help of his many banjos and guitars.

Storyteller Showcase! Featuring Lambert Moss!

I’m very excited to host Lambert Moss at the Blush! Songwriter Showcase this week. While Lambert isn’t necessarily a songwriter, he is a phenomenal storyteller and the voice is not to be missed. So I’m making an exception for this event.

Born in New York City, Lambert Moss (all pronouns) cut his teeth amongst the drag queens, club kids, and musical theater scene in Manhattan and Brooklyn. His career has spanned from opera to intimate dive bars, performing with musical legends such as Deborah Harry, the Tammy Hall Trio, Angela Bofil, Daniel Fabricant, and Daria Johnson. Lambert was featured in multiple revival productions of Hair, helmed by original director Stanley Ramsey. In San Francisco, Lambert is a staple of queer community venues, where his jazz stylings and storytelling style enrapture audiences from Powerhouse to Piedmont Piano. You can often find him at Martunis being accompanied by Joe Wicht, Maddaline Edstrom, or Ben Prince, or as a repeated feature in the hit Monday night drag show Pillows at Powerhouse with Mr. David Glamamore. He has the privilege of being mentored by Anohni who recently in an interview named Lambert as her favorite undiscovered artist.

Tell your ma, bring your friends, and see you there!

Songwriter Showcase!

I’m such a fan of Ira Marlowe and can not wait to share the evening with him again at Blush! wine bar this week.

Ira’s storytelling is reminiscent of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and even has some children’s stories that speak to the inner children who aren’t able to enjoy the wine.

Not only is he a fabulous songwriter but he’s the owner/proprietor of The Monkey House in Berkeley. These are the people in our Bayborhood? please plan to join us and share with your folks.

Under The Influence: Elvis Costello

Looooooooky!!!

I’ve been invited to do something really cool. Being the lyrical and songwritery nerd that I am, I get to do a deep dive and spend time submerged in the works of one of the more prolific songwriters of our time: Elvis Costell0

He’s not just Diana Krall’s husband, oh no no no! He’s got a LOT of his own things to say about love, America, and politics himself. With his signature sardonic, sarcastic, dry, charming, and sometimes whimsical style, there’s….a LOT to unpack. Come see how his voice echoes in the stylings of the next generation of writers!

Tickets tend to go quickly for this so grab them fast!

Mark Governor’s “Under the Influence” series continues, honoring Elvis Costello. Mark joins co-host Alexis Harte, Emily Zisman, Claudia Russell, Bruce Kaplan and special guests performing Elvis’ songs alongside their own original material that he inspired.

Under The Influence of…takes place every 1st Thursday and features a different line-up of artists paying tribute to the great songwriters and musicians of our time.